How Much More
by uscfbfan
Summary: What happens when a case in the woods change Brennan and Booth's life dramatically?  How do they cope?  Do they finally admit what they have?  Will Parker ever learn to walk with crutches?  Read and review?
1. Chapter 1

_AN: This is my first Bones fanfiction. They may be a little OOC, but I hope by not much._

Disclaimer: I don't not own Bones, if I did, I would not have to work every day for the rest of my life. Sigh.

Please read and review, I get ideas from reviews, as would be great because I get hit by writers block every so often.

_How Much More?_

"Sweetie, you really need to go home," Angela protested when she saw her best friend sneezing for what seemed to be the millionth time. Brennan had worked 17 days straight. How much more could she take?

Angela had noted that since their wedding she had noticed that her best friend was learning to be more reliant on her partner. It was a good thing to see her best friend open up to someone else.

"It's just the common cold. Booth caught it from someone at work, who caught it from their child, who caught it from one of the other millions of kids who are at their school." Brennan explained logically. "Besides, I have to work on the unidentified war victims. I'll be in my office, so I won't contaminate the rest of you guys." She said through her sniffles.

"Oh Bones, give it up. You are going home to get some rest." Her partner said flashing her a smile. "I got over it in two days because I stayed at home, took care of myself, and got ate some chicken soup."

"Booth, that isn't logical. Chicken soup is not a good remedy for something like the common cold," she replied adding a sneeze at the end. "Besides, you go to the gym, work out, which is obvious from your symmetrical body and muscle mass."

He chuckled at his partner. She was sitting on the floor of her office, looking very pale, and very exhausted. "Hey Bones, you really don't look very hot today."

"Geez thanks Booth." She replied sarcastically. She was completely exhausted. The hit of caffeine she had this morning just wasn't going to help.

She went to stand to continue their banter but suddenly stumbled back. He caught her quickly at her shoulders to help right her. She still had the blanket on her shoulders that she had thrown over herself to keep warm. He couldn't help but think how cute she looked. He placed his lips on her forehead, the same way he did with Parker when he wasn't feeling well.

Bones eyes were suddenly filled with sadness. The last memory of someone doing that was when she was young and her mother was checking her temperature.

"Hey there." Booth said gently.

"My mom used to check my temperature that way." She said softly. Her throat was becoming sore.

"You are burning up Bones. I'm taking you home. It's almost noon on Friday. Come on, I'm taking you home and you are staying there all weekend."

"How are you making sure of that?"

"I'm staying with you. I know how boring it can be when you are sick, so I am keeping you company."

"Don't you have Parker this weekend?" Bones drowsily asked, her eyelids were dropping.

"I was supposed to, but Rebecca and Drew wanted to take him camping this weekend. So I get him two weekends in a row. You must be sick if you aren't arguing with me."

"I'm too tired to argue," she replied, swaying more. "I don't feel well."

He scooped her up and she went to protest, but fell asleep almost instantly. He covered her more with the blanket and carried his sick partner out to the car and loaded her in.

----------

Brennan woke up in her room a couple of hours later with a sore, scratchy throat, a cough, and if possible, she was feeling worse than before. Then it dawned on her, she was back at home, but the question was, how did she get there?

She stumbled out of her door and found Booth sitting in the living room reading a book.

"Hey. What are you reading?"

"Just finishing up your latest." He replied.

"Please say you didn't go out and buy one."

"Of course I did. I think I was the first person to buy one. How do you feel?"

A cough and a sniffle was his reply. He smiled at her. She settled in on the couch and curled up, making herself as small as possible, trying to keep warm with the chill. He handed her one of his sweatshirts. She smiled gratefully and put it on.

He placed his lips on her forehead again. "Bones, you are burning up! Do you have some Tylenol?"

"I ran out."

"Well, I'm gonna go to the store. I'll pick up things for chicken soup and some Tylenol. Do you want anything else?"

"No, not that I can think of. I have a couple of hundred in my wallet from a stop at the ATM yesterday."

"Bones, you really shouldn't carry that much cash. Besides this is on me."

"Wow you must really not feel well if you aren't arguing with me."

"I don't feel like arguing."

He leaned down and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She had fallen back asleep on the couch. He quietly left her apartment and quickly ran his errands. Booth picked up a couple of other things here and there and made his way back into her apartment.

Dr. Temperance Brennan was never one to believe that chicken soup could cure a common cold, but she woke up to the most wonderful smell coming from her kitchen. There she found Seeley Booth dropping the last little bit of noodles into the soup.

"It smells good Booth."

"Thanks Bones."

"I got a couple of DVDS for us to watch. 'Live Free, or Die Hard,' 'Casablanca,' and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' Its your pick."

He added a pinch of spice to the soup and closed it up to let it simmer. "You know Booth, you really don't have to do all this."

"I know I don't. But if I recall correctly, I got you sick, so I owe you. Let's get a Tylenol in you."

He brushed his lips against her forehead again. He reached into one of the bags that littered the floor of the kitchen. He plopped a thermometer in her mouth. Brennan hated feeling that vulnerable, however because she really wasn't feeling well she didn't feel like arguing with her partner.

"Booth you didn't have to cook for me." She said watching him spoon out the liquid concoction into the bowls at the table.

"Well, I do owe you from the mac and cheese a month ago. Now keep your mouth shut and eat up."

"Well, I guess I got to eat." She said remembering the conversations from months ago. He smiled and watched her eat his mother's secret recipe soup.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two:_

Booth looked over at his sleeping partner on the couch. Her fever was fairly high, and he was worried that her fever would continue to climb. It had been 103.5 the last time he checked. He picked her up in arms and carried her into the room.

"I can walk Booth." She murmured into his chest. She still felt warm to the touch. He was worried that the Tylenol didn't take affect.

He laid her down and took a pillow from the bed and made his way back on to the couch. Stripping down to his boxers he found the spare blankets and switched on the nightly news and promptly fell asleep.

------------

Around three in the morning he awoke to the sound of an infomercial and the sound of his partner moaning to what it seemed was a nightmare. He pulled on his t-shirt and a pair of sweats and went to go check on her.

"Dad, we have to find Gallagher, he has Booth. Dad what if we don't get to him on time!" She murmured.

He reached down and touched the slight scar that happened when he was burned on his thigh. He looked over at her and saw the tears streaming down her face. He knelt down by the bed. "Temperance, hey." He whispered to her. Her big blue eyes connected with his dark brown eyes.

"We didn't get to you in time. I thought we lost you." Tears were streaming down her face. "I let you down. You got hurt."

He sat down on the bed next to her. "Hey, I'm here, and I am okay." He had no idea that him being kidnapped was such a profound experience on her, if anything he thought she might have been plagued by the Gravedigger. He wrapped his arms around her noting that she was still exuding a lot of heat. He doubted that her fever went down.

"I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." She whispered to him.

"Hey, I'm here. You are here. And I am going to get you another Tylenol. Your fever still hasn't gone down." He walked into her bathroom and found the Tylenol. He didn't know why her fever hadn't gone down yet, and it was worrying him. He walked back into her room with the Tylenol and a glass of water. She gulped it down and smiled gratefully.

"Stay with me."

He nodded never seeing her so vulnerable. "Okay." He crawled into bed with her and began to draw lazy circles on her back. "I always do this to Parker when he gets sick."

She murmured something unintelligible and her breathing began to even out. He quickly fell asleep next to her, and for the first time Seeley Booth felt like he was finally home.

----------

He woke up with the pressure of someone curled up next to him. He felt the heat radiating off her body, it was still unnaturally hot. Her head was resting on his chest and his arm was wrapped around her waist.

He kissed the top of her head. He wiggled out from the grasp and made his way into the kitchen. He picked up his cell phone and saw that he had missed a call from Rebecca.

He switched on the message, "Daddy, it's Parker! Mommy said I could call you. The trees are so big here. I'm playing with the other boys in the campsite. I'm so glad I went camping. I have to go Daddy. I love you!" He hung up his phone and started making breakfast for them. His four year old never ceased to amaze him.

Brennan woke up not feeling any better than the day before. She was well rested, but no better than the day before. God she hated being sick. She smelled eggs being cooked in the kitchen and remembered being in Booth's arms. He stayed the night with her.

She got up and made her way towards the kitchen. "Hey you. Thanks for staying over. I hope I didn't get you sick."

"Naw, I'm probably immune to it, seeing I gave it to you. Parker called me last night. He is having a blast with a couple of other boys out there."

"That's nice. Parker is a good kid."

Still not feeling great, she gave him a weak smile. He handed her a cup of tea. He turned on Brennan's stereo, and it flipped to Poco's greatest hits. He smiled remembering the day she saved him from Gallagher. "You know Bones, I taught that song to Parker. He loves it. I had forgotten how much I liked that song until you said something about it in Royal Diner."

She smiled at him.

"You know I'm not going anywhere." Booth told her.

"I said you could stay. I don't feel like arguing with you, and I like the company."

Booth felt like he was hitting his head up against a brick wall. He didn't know what it would take to get through to her that he needed and wanted something more. He could tell that this wasn't the time, seeing that she wasn't at her best. She was still looking adorable though, padding around in slippers and a robe which was open revealing the pajamas she wore last night.

"What are you looking at Booth?"

"I'm checking your color. You still don't look great." He said lying to her, covering up the fact that he had been staring at her. But he was in fact telling the truth, her color still hadn't returned to normal.

"I feel awful."

"Well, eat a little bit and we will set up camp on the sofa, and we will watch television until you pass out."

She smiled at the plan, and at the idea of getting to spend the weekend with him. Angela was right. It was time to experience things, even if it meant getting hurt. Booth would never intentionally hurt her. She didn't want to be scared, but she just couldn't let go.

"Why don't you go jump in the shower?" She suggested. "I know that you would probably feel better, especially since you spent all night with me, and I just feel gross."

"Finish your tea. It will help your throat." He grabbed his overnight bag and walked into her bathroom. She was right, the hot steam and the steady stream felt god on his skin. He worked the soap over his body. Over the scar on his hip he got with his brother, over the burn scar from Gallagher, and over the other scraps he got from being a Ranger. He knew about nightmares, he wished he could have saved her from them.

Coming out of her room he found her with her head down on the table. "Hey. You really don't feel great do you. Maybe you should get in the bath. I'll go run you one."

She got up and met him in the bath. "Thanks Seeley."

"You're welcome."

He closed the door behind her and shook off the feeling of wanting to be in there with her.

The rest of the weekend was spent with Booth helping Brennan do things around the house that she didn't fell like doing, trying to get a stubborn fever to go down that seemed to be just as stubborn as the certain forsenic anthropologist that Booth was trying to sort his feeling out for.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three:_

Brennan went in to work knowing full well that Booth would probably fight with her the moment he saw her in the office. He had left her place fully showered and dressed for work, warning her that her fever had just gone down, and that she shouldn't do anything to bring it back up. However, Temperance Brennan was a lady who if anything could be described as stubborn and strong willed.

She buzzed herself in with her card and took her time and got up the stairs. "Sweetie, you are looking a little sick still."

"My hypothalamus is still working on regulating my body temperature." She answered. "But it has gone down since the last time Booth shoved a thermometer in my mouth."

"Wait a minute, Booth?"

"Yeah. He spent the weekend with me."

Angela started speaking quickly, mostly incoherent sentences to Dr. Brennan. "I knew it, that man is hot for you."

"No, Angela, he is simply looking out for a friend. I was sick, and he was helping me out."

"No, honey, most men run away from the idea of being around sick people. He willing stayed with you! That's love."

"What's love?" Zack said coming at the end of the conversation. "Dr. Brennan, they just discovered some bones at an archeological dig in China. They are being sent here."

Booth swiped his card expecting to take Zack to go recover a body; however he saw his partner standing in her office and immediately had this look on his face. "As much as I hate to say this, we have a case. You are going with me to a campsite. Three bodies were found there." He put his hand on her forehead. "You still feel like you have a fever."

"It was only a slight one. I needed to come back in and work on the war bones." She replied back.

She pulled her hair back and grabbed one of the Jeffersonian jumpsuits that were required.

"Bones you have to put something warmer than that on. It is fifty degrees outside and raining."

"I'm not going to ruin my $300 dollar sweater running around a campsite. This will be enough."

He pulled off his sweatshirt and handed it to her. "I have another one in the car. You still have a fever. Just humor me."

She pulled on his sweatshirt. It smelled like him. "Thanks Booth. I was a little cold."

"Hey what are partners for?"

Angela leaned back and watched their relationship progress and squealed with delight. It was almost too perfect.

----------

"FBI." Booth announced when he got to the crime scene, holding up the yellow crime scene tape for her. He never ceased to amaze her with his gentleman like manners. His mother had raised him right. He heard her coughing more and more wishing that she wasn't the best. She should have been at home resting in bed.

She walked over the bodies. The bodies were badly decomposed. Field rats and other wildlife had taken the toll on the bodies. The smell of the bodies was getting to Brennan in her cold induced state. For the first time, she looked as she was going to be sick.

"Hey, are you sure she is the best?" One of the local guys asked.

"Positive." Booth replied as he watched his partner bend back over the body. She had gotten her composure after the wave of nauseous had hit. "That's my girl." He

whispered. "What can you tell Bones?"

"The first body over by the trees is female, Caucasian, and in her early thirties. The second body is male, Caucasian, early thirties. The third body is a male, seems to be of mixed heritage, in his twenty five to forty. Looks like they were shot," She said pointing to a bullet wound." She said

"It would explain the chaos. Someone got shot, the others started running. It explains the sporadic positioning of the bodies." The bodies were scattered along the campsite, about 15 feet apart."

Booth walked into the tent. Whoever killed these people had cleaned up the campsite. It must have taken at least two people. They had to ditch these people's cars and get rid of the evidence. Whoever it was either knew what they were doing or left something behind.

The park ranger came up. Booth started questioning him. "Do you know who these campers were?"

"We had a group here over the weekend. They had rented two campsites. We had reservations on the computer at the check in site, but lightening fried the hard-drive. We don't keep anything on paper since the dawning of the electronic age. We already gave the computer to your FBI tech guy."

"Do you remember the vehicles they came in?"

"No. We had a lot of traffic that day."

"Any thing else you can remember give me a call."

He looked at his partner trying watching her delegate the way the bodies were transported. She came back sneezing and coughing. "Come on Bones, let's get you into some dry clothes."

They walked back to the SUV in companionable silence, only interrupted by her sneezes, sniffling, and cough.

"Agent Booth?"

He turned around and saw some of the rangers and local policemen by a tree. "Yeah."

"We think we have found a bullet."

Brennan and Booth walked over. Booth looked at it. "It's a sniper bullet." He said a matter-of-factly.

"Are you positive?"

"I shot those off for years in Iraq." He muttered. "Yeah."

"Could it be another sniper, you know like the DC area sniper?" A park ranger asked. "Should we close the campsite?"

"I think it is too early to speculate. Bag the bullet, we will look for ballistics match. And look for any other casings or bullets in the area."

"Are you alright Booth?" Brennan asked when she caught him frowning at his cell phone.

"Yeah. Just trying to get in touch with Rebecca. I wouldn't be surprised if she is ignoring my call. I wanted to know how Parker enjoyed his camping trip." She started sneezing and coughing. "We have to get you out of this rain Temperance."

Drained from the day's activities, she knew there wouldn't be anything she could do until Cam looked at the flesh, Hodgins got the particulates, and Zack cleaned the bones. She called the lab to let them know that the victims where on the way back. Booth had the FBI start cracking on the fried laptop. She insisted to go back to work to catch up on the work that she had neglected.

AN: Hope you guys are enjoying the story. I had to throw a case in there otherwise it wouldn't be a Bones story, now would it. Thanks for the reviews and alerts! It helps me along the writers frustration.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four:_

Tuesday. It was on a Friday that Brennan had taken ill, and now on Tuesday she wasn't feeling any better, and against his judgment she had him drive her to work today. She said the cold and flu medicine that she had taken probably would have made her a danger to drive, and he agreed. So there he was in her condo at 7:00 in the morning fixing coffee in his partner's kitchen.

She came down the hallway wearing one of his oversized sweatshirts he had lent her over the weekend which was now freshly laundered and a pair of jeans. "You going to work like that Bones?"

"Murders don't quit happening because you catch a cold Booth. But that doesn't mean I have to be a slave of fashion. I'll go in to see if there is anything I can do with the bones, and if there isn't I will lock myself in my office with some tea and work on my book I have to write."

He smiled at her. He thought it might have been the first time that he had seen her look so casual. He put his lips to her forehead again. "Has it gone down any?"

"My trip in the rain didn't help any. It actually went back up. Hey was there any luck on getting the computer to work again?"

"No, it was completely fried by the lightening strike. Maybe you should stay at home today. Zack can work. He does have his doctorate now."

"I am perfectly able to do my job when I am sick. I did it in Guatemala, Rwanda . . ."

"Okay Bones, I get it. Just we have to be careful with it being a murder case and all. You know, we can't have any screw ups just because you are too stubborn to let someone help you when you are sick."

"Yeah, I know. I'll have Zack check back over me to make sure I don't miss anything. And I resent the fact that you think that I would let something as important as this get screwed up!" She raised her voice, causing her to take more air in, and cough more violently.

Booth knew he screwed up with that last statement. He saw the invisible walls that were taken down over the weekend get put back up. He was now back to square one again.

They left Brennan's apartment to get started on what would seem to be a very long day at the office. He stared at his partners back reading what the letters on the back of his sweatshirt said, "Property of the FBI." He chuckled.

----------

Half way to the Jeffersonian they had gotten a call from the local Rangers that a hiker had found another body in the woods. They were in the process of sending the body to the lab, and Booth was on the phone barking orders into the phone.

"I really wish you would take the day off work." He said when he finally got off the phone.

"Will you stop bothering me. There is a job that has to be done! I told you before, just because I am sick, it doesn't mean the killing stops." She said in between sniffles.

She got into work and saw the remains of the first three victims sitting on the table. Angela walked up behind her.

"Since when did you become property of the FBI?" She asked her best friend.

"Booth! You didn't tell me that your sweatshirt said that on the back."

"It is one of my sweatshirts. What did you expect?"

"You look good in it." Angela responded.

"Dr. Brennan, the x-rays are done on the bodies." Zack came in with the news.

"Thanks."

She walked into her office and pulled up the x-rays on her computer. She squinted her eyes and examined the x-rays. "The lady had a broken wrist and ankle at some point in her life. No other tell-tale signs or breaks. Otherwise very healthy adults. I'll put the tissue markers in to have Angela do a facial reconstruction."

The facial reconstruction took a couple of hours, which leant itself for lots of time for Booth to bounce ideas off of Brennan.

"Okay, so let's assume it is a sniper."

"Booth, we don't have to assume it is a sniper. We know. The bullet, the bullet wounds, all match."

"I'm saying, I lived as a sniper, they could have hid anywhere. We need a trajectory for the bullets."

"Victim one was shot in the sternum, and she landed over by the trees, she bled out. Victim two was shot in the back, through and through. Victim three was shot in the stomach. The shooter most likely was in the northeast section shooting through the tree line." Zack responded.

Angela came in. "Hey I put the schematics into the Angelator, and I have a sketch of the woman. I gave her a grin, and a smile in her eyes. She was on vacation and supposed to be having fun."

Booth looked down at the picture. "Can you pull it up on the Angelator?"

"Sure." She pulled it up.

Bones watched the myriad of emotions flit across her partners face. "Angela are you sure you are right on this?"

"Booth I am always right. I am the best."

"It's Rebecca." Brennan said softly.

He pulled out a cell phone and immediately put in a call. "I need someone to get over to 1423 Crestview. We need to verify that the persons who live there are alright." He hung up the phone.

"Angela, for once I hope you are wrong with the face," he said. He called Parker's preschool. They hadn't seen or heard anything. He started panicking. "Bones, where's my son?"

He ran out the building and Brennan ran after him. "I'm coming back with you to the crime scene. Maybe there is something."

---------

They pulled up to the state park. They were greeted by more FBI agents waiting for them at the scene.

"Agent Booth, there was no one at Rebecca Nolan's house. We will keep sending someone out."

Cullen was at the scene. "Agent Booth, we are going to have to pull you off the case considering your closeness to it."

"Sir, my son is out there somewhere." He said, keeping calm. "I am going to find my son."

"Booth, no one is going to try to stop you from looking for your son, as a civilian off the case."

"Booth!" He heard Bones cry out in the distance. He saw her hold something up. It was the Saint Michael's medal that Booth had bought Parkers when he was first born. The little boy never went anywhere without his gift from his dad.

"What does it say on the back?"

"I'll find a way to get on home to you Parker. Love Dad."

"I bought it when he was first born. I gave it to him last year when he was scared about my not coming home because of my job." He whispered. "Saint Michael is the patron saint of warriors and soldiers. It's his middle name."

"Booth, you know we have to keep it as evidence." She bagged it and handed it to an officer. "I'm sorry." She said through her coughs. "We will find him."

"Agent Booth." The sound of superiors voice came ringing through like a shotgun. There was a local policeman standing next to Cullen. "You need to go downtown to answer some questions regarding the disappearance of Rebecca Nolan and Parker Booth."

"Like hell I do. My kid is out there missing." He yelled.

"Agent Booth. Go. Half the bureau is out there."

"I need to be here for him when he is found. I need to see him, hold him. He doesn't know about his mother."

"And what do you know about his mother?"

"She was murdered." He said, his face turning white.

"Why do you suspect that?"

Brennan spoke up. "We were first on the crime scene yesterday. Our sketch artist worked out the facial reconstruction on our bodies. We tentatively identified the bodies as Rebecca Nolan and Drew Summers, third victim's id we are working on. DNA matching will start as soon as we get samples from their homes."

"Her parents just reported them missing. They seemed to have disappeared with a trace. Her mother named you as the prime suspect."

"She did what?!" Booth couldn't believe it. He knew that he and Rebecca didn't always see eye to eye, but their relationship had gotten better.

"You need to go down to the station." Cullen said quietly. "We will clear this up."

The rain started to fall more rapidly now. "My son is out there!" He looked towards the trees, and looked at Brennan. He didn't think he had another choice. Parker was out there, alone, thirsty, hungry, and scared. He made a mad dash to the trees, with only the skill and agility that a ranger could move at, but the FBI and local police were everywhere and one eventually caught him.

Cullen knew what the man was going through, but there were standard procedures that had to be met. He saw the look of defeat as the younger man was pulled up in cuffs.

"Bones, find him. Don't worry about me. Worry about Parker. Get to the Jeffersonian and have Hodgins pulling everything he can."

"I will Booth. For you and for Parker."

Brennan picked up her partner's keys and got in the SUV and followed them to the station. She started barking orders into her cell phone.

Cullen smiled as more of Booth was rubbing off on his partner.

----------

Down at the station, the local PD felt that there was enough suspicion regarding the disappearance of Parker and Rebecca's murder to hold Booth for allowable time of 48 hours.

"You were with me the entire weekend." Bones said when she went to see him. "I told the cops that. I am your alibi."

"We're partners. They felt that you would corroborated our stories, so being with you, even though I was, isn't good enough. I can't believe I am being locked up for kidnapping my son."

"Hey, they can't hold you forever. I'm sure Cullen will get you out and in the mean time, the squints are working on the third body ID and the other body found in the park."

"I'll get out to the park and start looking for him."

"Bones, you're sick. If something were to happen to you out there, I would never forgive myself."

"Parker needs us. I will be out there tomorrow, sick or not to find him." She said determinately. "I will find him."

Her cell phone rang. She picked it up with frustration. "Dr. Brennan." She said in between coughs. "Are you sure? Angela, I will tell him." She snapped the phone shut.

"What is it Bones?"

"They are bringing in the body of a child."

Fear ran through his eyes, his jaw clenched. He felt that his life was completely drained out of his body. "Is it Parker?"

"They don't know yet." She answered quietly. She placed her hand on his. "I'm heading back to the lab now. I will call you when we make a positive ID. Do you have anything of his so we can run DNA. It will be quicker."

"There is a toothbrush at my house. I also have a hairbrush there for him to. They key is on my key ring. Call me when you have anything." He eyes started to tear up. "Who would want to hurt my son?"

"Booth, we will do everything we can."

"I know."

**AN: Thank you all for the reviews. Gold Star for everyone who figured out it was Rebecca and Drew. It's not that I don't like Rebecca and Drew (well I don't) but they just don't serve a purpose in my story. Thanks again. Hope you are enjoying it.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five:_

Brennan tore into the lab. "I have a toothbrush and a hair sample from Booth's to run a DNA sample. I also picked up a picture of him so we could have something to compare it too when it is time."

She looked down at the corpse. It was a young child with blonde hair. The face had been eaten away by scavenger animals. She pulled back her hair and snapped on some gloves. She started speaking into the tape recorder.

"Child is a male, approximately 3 to 6 years old." She closed her eyes. Parker's face flashed in her mind's eye. It couldn't be her partner's child.

"Dr. Brennan," Zack looked at her. "We don't know that it's Parker."

"Zack, you know that we don't name the victims. It's better that way. Do you have news on any other aspect?" Zack looked a little ashamed.

"Dr. Brennan, we all are hoping it isn't him." He replied. He looked down at the child. "Dr. Hodgins and I have started working on the body that came in this morning. Dr. Brennan, Dr. Hodgins found insects that weren't indigenous to the area of the park where she was dumped, but they were nowhere near the campsite where Parker went missing and the murders occurred. Also she had a tattoo that Angela is working on reconstructing."

"Good job guys."

Cam came up the platform. "The guys in the lab are running the DNA analysis now on the child."

Brennan got the report from Hodges and started looking over it. The insects found were native to water. Brennan remembered when she was younger her father taking her to that park to camp at. It was a huge park spanning several hundred acres. It was going to be looking for a needle in a haystack.

The sun was going down. The team was having a full night of trying to figure out who the other victims were.

So far the killer had killed Rebecca and Drew, and unidentified man at the campsite, a woman found two miles up a trail, and a child. Her stomach lurched at the thought of it being Parker. She certainly had no maternal instincts, but she needed the little boy to be okay. She picked up the picture of Parker. He looked so much like Booth, all save the fact he had blonde hair.

Angela walked in to Brennan's office only to find her sitting there staring at the picture.

"Hey." Angela worried about her. Her friend was becoming more and more fatigued. "When was the last time you ate?"

"I don't remember."

"You need to eat." Angela looked down at the picture. "He is a beautiful boy." Angela held up a sketch. She had gotten Booth and Parker down perfectly.

"What if it is Parker? It would kill Booth." Brennan whispered. "I don't think I would know what to do, or say, to help him through this. How can anyone believe that he would kill the mother of his child?"

"Sweetie, these people don't know Booth. They are just trying to figure out what happened, the same as us. They are barking up the wrong tree."

"I know that Booth wouldn't do that. He was with me all weekend anyway. He was taking care of me. He cherishes Parker, he adores his little boy."

Cam came into the office. "Brennan, you should go downtown and tell Booth the results of the DNA analysis are done."

Brennan did a quick glance of what the analysis said. She grabbed her keys to head downtown.

----------

How much more could one man take? His little boy was out there lost. He felt that he failed as a father. Seeley Booth just couldn't wrap this idea around his head. Who would want to hurt his little boy?

She ran into the police station trying to get the guards to see her partner. He was in the interrogation room. She watched through the two-way mirror and saw that he was subconsciously holding his breath.

"Breathe Booth, just breathe." She willed him behind the mirror.

He looked at his hands and started counting the breaths he was taking. He started couldn't believe that someone would hurt his little boy. Parker. He looked down at the pictures that a CSI officer brought in. The child's face had been completely ravished by animals. The only thing that he knew for certain is that the little boy was wearing a red hoodie like Parker had and denim jeans. His sneakers looked like the sneakers that Booth had bought Parker just two weeks ago.

He stared hard at the picture. "Please God. Please!" He started pacing the room and fell to his knees. He couldn't stand the thought of Parker being dead. He started dry heaving into the waste paper basket. Parker was just four.

"Let me see my partner." She screeched at the guard.

The guard relented and let her into the interrogation room. She ran over to him and placed her arms around him. "Shh. Just breathe Booth."

He caught sight of her. She was still wearing his sweatshirt, her hair pulled back. He could still tell that she was sick. "Bones." His eyes were pleading

"It's not him. It's not Parker." His eyes washed over with relief and he just held his partner. She coughed violently and he held her to him.

"Thank God."

"Yeah, thank God."

"You don't believe in God," he murmured into her hair.

"But you do, and you are crediting him right now for your son's life, and if it is good enough for you, then it is for me." She whispered back.

"I have to get out of here to find him."

"How?"

"I'm his father, I was an Army Ranger, I am a trained sniper, and I am an FBI agent. I will go to hell and back to bring my boy home."

He looked into her blue eyes and saw a firestorm happening. "So will I Booth. So will I. Booth, I am joining in on the search team tomorrow."

"Bones, I know I can't stop you, but tell people where you are going and stick to the paths."


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six_:

Temperance Brennan was frustrated. It had been raining since Monday, and she knew that it being Wednesday they were going to have problems finding evidence. It might all have been washed away.

"Dr. Brennan, something about this case just isn't adding up." Zack announced. Zack was tired. He had working all day and night without a break. He and the squints didn't mind though. They needed to do this for Booth.

"I know Zack." She replied.

"We identified the third and fourth bodies. The man at the crime scene was Alex Vasquez, divorced father who lived in Rebecca's neighborhood. She worked with Drew." Angela said coming in. "The fourth victim was a co-ed who disappeared a month ago from a fraternity overnighter in the park. She seems to have nothing to do with this case. We are still working on the little boy."

"We pulled a partial print from the bullet. It doesn't match Booths."

She glanced at the clock. It was just beginning to turn light outside and the search team would be meeting soon. "Thanks guys. I am going to go down to the park to join with the search. Call Cullen to let him know what we found out." She said barking out orders.

Angela picked up her keys. "I am going to go to the local jail to see if there is anything we can do to spring Booth."

----------

Brennan looked at the sky and saw the ominous rain clouds. She hoped that it would hold off on the rain until they could begin the search. However, thirty minutes into the drive, she knew as she pulled up that the news wasn't going to be good.

She arrived at the campsite where she was told that the search was going to be postponed until the weather was better. People were getting hurt, and they couldn't risk the lives of others to save one.

But Brennan being Brennan decided she was going to stay. She scouted around the campsite looking for any other things that could lead her to where Parker was. Something about this case just didn't add up. Why shoot innocent people, and why let a little boy live? She knew why but just didn't want to think that way. She then thought about Parker's phone call about how he was playing with other little boys at the campsite. What happened to the other children?

She remembered coming to this campsite when she was a little girl. Her father had taken her fishing near some mines that had long since been sealed because of cave-ins. She remembered playing down there with Russ. There were lots of places to hide. She looked at the signs pointing to the different area of the park. Could it be possible that Parker had walked to the lake?

Something about the fourth body found just made Brennan wonder. The fourth victim's body wasn't that far away from where Rebecca, Drew, and their neighbor was found, but yet her clothes had particulates and bugs only found at the lake. What if they were looking for a serial killer? They had a primary crime scene for Booth's family, and nobody bothered looking for a second crime scene for the murder of the coed. Something just didn't add up.

Searchers had already been up that way, but what if . . . ? She ran to her car and drove down to the lake access area of the park.

Rain had started to let up, but she could tell it was only going to be a matter of time before the sky opened up again. She zipped up her rain coat, and was glad she had dressed in layers today. She went to the back of her car and grabbed a flashlight and grabbed a small first aid kit just in case, and went off to continue the search for Parker. All the evidence would be washed away if it was going to rain. Letting out a small curse, she continued on.

She trudged up one of the paths and found a place to start deviating. Something out of place caught her eye. There was a bright red hoodie hidden underneath several fallen leaves. "Parker" was engraved on the breast pocket of the jacket. There was a bullet hole in the shoulder.

"Parker!" She yelled out. Her throat was sore, her lungs were screaming at her. The rain was pelting down on her face. It was probably the last thing she should have done, because it alerted the trained sniper to where she was.

She stood back up, dropping her cell phone, into the leaves. She didn't notice the small device laying there. She started having a violent coughing spell causing her to double over in pain. It was a coughing spell that would save her life. A bullet had missed her head because she had moved last minute with the cough. She stared at the tree and took off running.

The man got up and moved to stop the meddler in her tracks. She was not going to screw around with his plans. Those boys would be easy to sell to the highest bidders.

----------

Booth looked at his hands. He remembered the first time that he held his little boy for the first time. Rebecca wouldn't allow him in the delivery room, so after he was born, the nurse had permitted him into the father's room next to the nursery where he bonded with his son. Booth looked at the prisoners surrounding him. He was granted a different cell considering he was an FBI agent. The local cops had said nothing to him, and he certainly wasn't going to give them anything they could use against him.

"Woman killer." He heard one of the other guests of the county say to him. He ignored them and got on the ground and started doing pushups.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth." A policeman said opening up the cell. "You are free to go. The DA found no reason to hold you any longer."

He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and ran out the door. He saw Angela waiting there for him.

"How did you know I was getting out?" 

"Who do you think helped with the process? Where to Booth?"

"Back to the lab. I need to know where to start looking for my son."

"Booth, there is something you need to know." Angela started out slowly.

Booth got this look of terror in his eyes. "Angela, is he . . ."

"Oh God Booth, no. It's not what you are thinking. There is no news yet on Parker. I was going to tell you that they called off the search until the weather is better."

"I have to find my son Ange."

"Booth, I know. But trying to find a little boy in the middle of a huge national park is going to be difficult. We need to narrow things down."

"I need my son Ange. I'm his father. I'm supposed to protect him."

"Booth, we will find him. We are your squint team. Let's get back so we can work on finding him."

----------

Back at the lab, Booth was getting caught up to speed, as was Angela who found out that her team had already started trying to put together the pieces.

"The three main bodies were found at the campsite. The fourth body was the coed that was killed a month ago. She was found two miles up the path. The child was found hidden in the forest." Angela started going over. "A searcher found him."

"I ran a DNA analysis on things gathered from the home. Booth. I'm sorry it is Rebecca and Drew." Cam said.

Hodgins spoke up. "Particulates on out fourth victim, Annette Devon, clothes point to that she was dumped there but killed by the lake. She had particulates and microbes that are indigenous to the lake. There was nothing linking her to Rebecca, Drew, or Alex Vasquez."

"Who is Alex Vasquez?"

"The other body. He was Rebecca's neighbor." Angela said, pulling up the picture of Alex.

"Parker was playing with his son the last time I picked him up. They are the same age. Conner. They have another older son, Sam. They are a nice family."

"We have to get back down to both crime scenes. What if we are dealing with a serial killer in the woods? And where is Bones?"

Angela looked around realizing she hadn't seen her best friend all day. "I'll call the ranger station up there to see if she stayed even though they called off the search."

After a couple of minutes on the phone, Angela came out and confirmed that the ranger saw her leave the campgrounds. "Booth, she probably went home. Her fever was really high. Let her rest and we will get with her in the morning."

"Yeah." He agreed the exhaustion was getting to him. The phone rang and he looked at the caller ID, Cullen. After hanging up, his expression was grim. "We have three missing boys. Parker and Alex Vasquez sons, Sam and Conner. The search for them is resuming in the morning. Their mother reported them missing, and they were planning on going camping with their father this weekend." He looked at the small skeleton on the table. "I think we found Conner."

He picked up the phone to call Brennan. There was no answer. He sighed and wondered why his best friend hadn't been around all day. Frustrated and exhausted, Angela gave him a ride home to his apartment.

----------

Out in the woods, a man stood talking on his cell phone. The lawyer said the money would be in his hands in no time for the young blonde hair boy, now he would only have to figure out a way to get rid of the woman.

Gene Lousinovich never meant to kill the young coed. She had stumbled across him. He had stashed her body in the shack by the lake and was moving her when the oldest boy saw. He knew then he would have to use the skills that the Russian army taught him. He picked up his rifle and started picking off the group. He normally didn't kill to get these children, he just waited for them to wander off, and then they would just become victims to being lost in the wilderness. The boy had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and he needed to cover up his crime.

It was an effective plan. Two children a year alone could put more than enough food on his table.

Lousinovich had gotten into this illegal adoption ring as a way to make money. He always seemed to find the children who got lost in the woods, or who wandered away from home. It wasn't his fault their parents weren't looking. He figured in his twisted mind he was giving the children over the years a better home.

The lawyer was more than happy to have more money going into his pocket and more than happy to hear that Lousinovich had more children for him to sell.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter Seven:_

Brennan groped around in the dark to find her flashlight. It had fallen next to her first aid kit. All she knew is that it was dark, damp, and cold where ever she was. She found the device and switched it on sweeping it from direction to direction. Where was she, how was she going to get out? Then it hit her. She is in deep trouble.

She searched around in her memory for any thoughts of what had happened. Then the floodgates opened up and the memories rushed back. She was running down a trail when someone attacked her from behind. Some had stabbed her with a three inch pocket knife. She reached up and dislodged the knife that was in her shoulder blade. She bit back a curse. She had fought back, kicking her attacker in the ribs. She thought she had gotten away when she fell. She picked up the first aid kit and found an alcohol swab. She cleaned her wound and walked down the dark corridor.

She must have fallen into one of the underground mine shafts. She swung flashlight around and gazed at the opening. Someone had sealed it back up. How was she going to get out of this one?

Brennan reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone, letting out a curse when she realized it wasn't there. She heard a soft whimper and realized she wasn't alone.

"Hello?" She swept the flashlight around. "Parker Michael Booth?"

She looked around and saw a small boy huddled in the corner. "Hey."

"Parker's on the other side of the collapsed wall."

"My name is Temperance. What's your name?"

"Sam. Sam Vasquez."

"Okay Sam. Are you hurt?" She said in starting to cough again.

"No. But Parker is. The bad man shot him." Sam said, tears were starting to brim in his eyes. She tried not to look alarmed. "It's the same man that shot Conner." Brennan put two and two together, Conner was the little boy at the morgue.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I am going to get us out of here. How long ago did the wall collapse?

"Not to long ago." She swept the flashlight along the wall and found the old shovels that the miners must have used.

"Don't worry Sam. We are going to get out of here, and we are going to get you back to your mom." She went over to the shovel and picked it up and started digging towards Parker.

It didn't take her too long to get to Parker. "Hey Parker." She saw him huddled in a ball in the corner. "How are you doing?"

He didn't say anything to her. She realized that Parker's father probably engrained it in him not to talk to strangers. "You might not remember me, we met two times." She remembered that he used a word so Parker knew if someone was safe, but Booth had never told her what the password was. "Do you remember me? I am your Daddy's partner."

"If you are my Daddy's partner, then what is the code word?"

"Bones." She guessed.

"Hi." Parker said looking relieved. He went to get up. "My shoulder and ankle hurt."

"Parker I want you to lay still so I can look at your wound."

"Is Daddy close by?"

"No Buddy, but he will find us soon."

She pulled off her rain coat and put it behind his head. The bullet had gone completely through. That was a good sign, but the bleeding hadn't completely stop, and it was looking infected. "Okay honey, I am going to make some bandages for you okay?"

Brennan pulled the knife that the killer had stuck in her and reached through her long sleeve shirt and cut up her under shirt. She reached into her first aid kit and pulled out a sterile gauze and another alcohol swab.

"Parker this is going to hurt." She held his other shoulder down, not wanting him to rip open any clots, and she gingerly wiped the area. Tears started rolling down his face. She packed the wound with the sterile gauze and took her ripped up shirt to secure it. "All done Parker."

He looked at his arm. "Mom is going to be mad at me for ripping through this shirt."

"Parker, your mother could never be mad at you okay." She let out another cough. It reverberated through the mine shaft. "We have to get moving so we can find a way out of here. How did you hurt your ankle?"

"A rock fell on it when the ceiling came down."

His ankle was swollen twice the normal size of what it should have been. She gingerly touched it. He tried to get up, but fell over again. She was going to have to carry him.

She put her jacket around him. She could tell that even though she had a fever that his wound had caused him to have a very high fever. "I'm going to get us out of here. Sam, I need you to help us out. I want you to hold the flashlight for us. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes."

She handed him the flashlight. She picked Parker up and balanced him on her hip. He put his head down on her shoulder. She started coughing. "Dr. Bones, you do look so good either." Parker acknowledged, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Your father told me the same thing." She ruffled his head and made their way down to find a way out.

**AN: Reviews rock my socks! Hope you guys are liking this story. Brennan found Parker, but will Booth find them??? Bad guy still out there lurking around. I feel evil!**


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight:_

It was 6:30 AM, and he was still at the Jeffersonian on Thursday. He had fallen asleep at Brennan's office. He had noticed the picture of Parker that was sitting on her desk. It was one of Booth's favorite pictures of him. Parker had his father's eyes and his smile. Parker had just scored a touchdown in his little league football game. Dirt was smudged on his face, and he was doing his victory dance. His heart ached for his son.

He looked at Brennan's desk and saw a picture of him making a face behind her as she was studying a skeleton. It captured their relationship. She was always studying and he was always showing Brennan how to live in the world of the living. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that her eyes weren't actually looking at the skeleton, and she had a smile on her face, laughing at him. Angela must have taken the picture. He made a mental note for Angela to give him a copy.

He looked down at his appearance and decided that he needed to get cleaned up and pick his partner up. He needed to make sure that she was resting well. He had spent the Tuesday night in jail being accused of a crime that he didn't commit. He should have been out all yesterday searching for his son along side of his partner, but Rebecca's parents put a stop to that. They had cost him valuable time. He rode by his partner's condo complex and noted that she wasn't there. He sighed and headed to the lab.

"Hey Angela, where's Bones?" He asked as he swiped himself in.

"I haven't seen her since yesterday morning since she went to go look for Parker. She probably decided not to come to work today to search for Parker. I am sure she is there." Angela replied with her usual perky self, still worried about her best friend.

"Have you found anything that would tell us where to start looking?" Booth asked.

Zack piped up. "The coed's body was in the lake, but dumped near two miles, northeast of the campsite." He pointed to the map.

Booth's mind was whirling. "The shots came from northeast of the campsite. How far away is the lake, from the campsite?"

"Six miles down the trail." Zack said.

Booth took a good look at the map. "What if the boys didn't stay on the trail? What if they wandered off through the forest?"

"Two to three miles. It's a hard terrain to navigate. To add, there are a lot of snakes in the area." Hodgins replied.

Booth wondered if his son stayed on the trail. He had always told his son not to wander off, but if he was with other boys, then he probably tagged along. He had to get to the site to join the search party.

----------

They pulled up to where the searchers were joining. It was seven AM and the sun was just coming up. Cullen was there, leading the FBI investigation.

"Booth . . ."

"Sir, I am here to search for my son. I am not going to get in the way of the FBI investigation. But I am not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs. I am not built for that."

"I didn't expect less of you Booth. Go find him. I guess they told you that the little boy brought to the lab was Conner Vasquez, one of Parker's classmates. His older brother, Sam, is unaccounted for."

"Yes sir. They were Rebecca's next door neighbors. They probably came here for a camping trip together. How is Alex's ex-wife taking it?"

"They had to sedate her when they told her that Alex and Conner were both dead and Sam was still missing."

Booth looked around. The place didn't seem right to him. He didn't see Brennan either. Where was his partner? 

Angela looked at him. "Where is Brennan?"

"I don't know Ange, but my gut reaction is telling me something is going on with her too. Bones didn't stay to search here. She went to search someplace else."

"If she did, she would have started down at the lake." Hodgins said. "Logically speaking, that is our primary crime scene for the coed. The rain is going to make it difficult to find anything."

"We are starting our search by the lake. They can search here, we will start by the lake."

--------

Booth pulled up and parked his car by the pier for the lake. The squints got out. "Spread out, start looking for anything that could give us a direction." He told them.

He saw Zack kneeling down by the sand. "It looks like someone's car was pushed into the lake." He said point to tread that was deeply imprinted in the wet sand. He got on his cell phone and called for a team of divers.

The divers showed up twenty minutes later – Hodgins scoffed about how quickly they came, but it was only truly because it was they were already on their way to start diving in the lake.

Booth had the team start at one central location and spread out according to the compass, however no one found traces of the kids yet. The same technique they had used in the desert when searching for Dani.

"Booth, do you think we are going to find her?" Angela asked. "I don't know what I would do without the difficult friend inside my head."

"We will find her." Booth told her. He lowered his tone to where Angela couldn't hear, "I need her."

They kept searching and the divers kept diving.

"Agent Booth, we found a car. It should be floating to the surface in ten minutes." A diver informed him.

Booth didn't know how much more he could handle. He was sure that it was Brennan's car. He picked up his cell phone and tried to call her again. It rang but then went to voice mail.

"Damn it Bones, pick up your phone!"

He looked out to the lake and saw the top of the car breaking surface. He turned around, there was no way he was accepting that she was gone too. It was her car. Angela was whispering no, over and over again.

"Agent Booth, there are no bodies in the car. We have to check the trunk."

He heard Angela gasp. In his mind this couldn't be happening. He heard the pop of the trunk. "The car is completely empty." He let out the breath that he had unconsciously been holding. Relief flitted across his face for a split second, replaced by worry for her and his son.

He called Cullen. "Sir, we have to add one more person to the search list."

"Who?" The voice over the phone asked.

"My partner, Temperance Brennan." He said. He clutched his Saint Michael's medal and continued on with the search. Their search for the day didn't yield anything, and Booth was getting frustrated. He had tried to stay to continue on the search, but Cullen wouldn't hear of it. He was not going to have to add another person on the list of people to search for. The team agreed to meet at first light to resume the search.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine:_

Brennan looked down at the sleeping boy that she held in her arms. He was radiating as much heat as she was, and she was getting worried about him. She had absentmindedly left her first aid kit, and it was too far away now to go back and get it. He stirred in her arms, pressing his ear closer to her heart. Brennan knew logically that Parker in his sleep was searching for some comfort. His eyes fluttered open and she shifted him up to her hip.

"Hey Parker, how are you feeling?" She gently asked him.

"Not so well." He replied. She did something completely uncharacteristic of her and kissed the top of his forehead.

"Dr. Bones, why does my dad call you that?"

"Well because I am a doctor and I look at people's bones to help their family members find out what happened to them."

Parker regarded her answer. "Do I have to call you Dr. Bones if that isn't your name?"

"No. My name is Temperance."

"Tempenant." Parker repeated.

"How about you and Sam can call me Tempe?" She told the small boy.

"I like that." He tightened his grip on her. "Tempe, are we going to get home soon?"

"I hope so Parker." She told him. She started coughing again. The tightness in her chest wasn't letting up this time. Brennan couldn't catch her breath. "Parker, Sam, we need to take a break."

She leaned up against the wall. Parke was no means a really heavy child, but she had been carrying him for several hours now. They weren't moving very quickly either because of the extent of their injuries.

"I'm hungry. I want to get out of here." Parker cried. She rocked him until his breathing evened out."Hold on honey, I will get out of here." Brennan told the sleeping child as she laid him down the rain jacket and walked over to Sam.

"How are you holding up?" She asked the other child.

"It's my fault." Sam said whispering.

"What are you talking about?" She asked the nine year old boy.

"My mom won't want me when she find out I killed Dad, and that is why we are being sent to the orphanage."

"What are you talking about?"

"It was the first day we got here. I was playing in the woods and saw a man dragging a body the woods. I tired to be quiet, but I guess he heard me. He looked over and saw me.

I should have said something to Dad. I don't know why I didn't. Anyway, Dad told me to take Parker and Conner into the woods to go find some firewood. I played a prank on Conner and scared him. Conner started running back to Dad, but Parker wanted to go get some wood. I could see Conner. I was watching him walk down to the campsite. But then I saw Conner fall to the ground, and I saw blood spilling out of his shirt." He started to cry.

"Sam, you don't have to go on." She comforted the boy.

He shook his head. "I looked out and saw Miss Rebecca clutching her chest. Drew was already on the ground, and Dad was running. I saw him get hit by something invisible, and then he was bleeding. I wanted to scream, but all I could think was to run away. I grabbed Parker and we ran through the woods. But I guess the man heard us.

He fired a gun, and it hit Parker in the shoulder. We tried to hide, but the man found us. He told us that we were very bad children and that my mom wouldn't want me because I killed Conner and hurt Parker.

He said I should have minded my own business and stayed at the campsite. If I had never seen him dragging the body, then we would have been fine.

He told Parker that his mom said that she didn't want him anymore, and that he found new parents for him. I know that he killed her though. Then he threw us into the mine shaft."

Brennan put a comforting arm around the boy. "Nothing you did was your fault. Your mother will always love you. She is going to be sad, but she will always love you."

"Is Parker going to die?"

"No, no he isn't," she said definitively. She looked over and watched the sleeping boy. She needed to figure out a way to get them out safely. Sam curled up beside Brennan. She was still chilled to the bone, and it was getting harder for her to breathe. She had to keep going for the boys. She coughed, and it felt like her lungs were going to explode.

----------

Lousinovich made his way into the labyrinth of the underground mine shaft. It was time to collect Parker and get him some medical attention for his shoulder. He made is way to where to boys were and found that they were gone.

----------

Brennan woke up. She didn't know if it was day or night. All she knew is that she had to keep the boys moving so they could find a way out of the mine. She woke up Sam first and got him to turn on the light. She picked Parker up. His body was still surging with heat, as was hers. She thought by now she was going to have pneumonia. Her body screamed as she made her way down the corridor to find a way out.

"Tempe, I want to go home."

"Parker, we will find a way out." She cradled him.

Lousinovich advanced down the tunnels. He had to keep the bitch from escaping with the boys. The tunnels were so convoluted that it would be easy to get lost in it. He caught up with them. He saw her put the young boy down.

He cleared his throat. He thought that she was a beautiful woman and it would have been awhile since he has had anyone. "I'll make you a deal." A gun was trained on her. "I'll trade the boys for you. I would love to have a beautiful woman all to myself. So, if you give yourself to me, then I will let the boys go. There is an exit to the underground maze. I will let the boys out, as soon as you trade yourself for them." He said reaching down, rubbing himself.

Brennan looked around and took in her surroundings. There was an old support beam.

"Sam," she addressed the older boy. "Take Parker a little further down the tunnel. I don't want him to see what is going to happen."

Sam picked Parker up. "Tempe, no I won't leave you. Dad says we are Booth men and we protect women!"

"Tempe, no. We won't leave you."

"Sam, I am not going anywhere. Just take Parker down a little ways."

Lousinovich nodded his head, and watched the boys go down a little ways. "I don't want to traumatize them more than what I have to. They don't need to see what I am going to do to you." Lousinovich got a sick look in his eyes. Brennan could tell he was mentally undressing her.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Do I need a reason?" She looked back at Parker and Sam. Sam had turned so he was facing her. "They saw something they weren't supposed to, so now I am tying up loose ends. And you, well you are a beautiful woman." He reached out to cop a feel. He smiled as he made contact with her breast, and lowered his gun. It was all she needed.

Brennan mustered all her strength and kicked the rotted wood. Parker and Sam were watching the entire thing. The collapse started. She heard the sound of a gun go off and she felt pain in her leg. She rolled out of the way of debris, not before a rock had knocked her in the chest, but she did effectively creating a wall between the assailant and the boys.

Sam looked at her. "Tempe, you are bleeding." He said pointing to her wound, and breathing was definitely more difficult. She pulled out the knife. She cut off another expanse of her undershirt. She tied off her wound, picked up Parker and kept moving.

"Tempe?"

"What Parker?"

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No honey I'm fine."

"You know, you might be just as strong as Daddy. But don't tell him I said that, he says that men are stronger than women." He said whispering as only a child could whisper.

_**AN: I had the majority of the story written before I started posting – gold star for the person who was going for pneumonia. I work in the medical setting, and let me tell you pneumonia is a pain. Reviews rock my world. Thank y'all for reading. I predict at least seven more chapters and a sequel if reviews demand it at the end. I work full time as a Speech Language Pathologist and case load is becoming manageable, so I might be able to update more frequently. By the way, didn't you guys love how Booth call them the center! Awesome, I may have to incorporate as I am fixing this story making it better before unleashing it on the reader. Thanks again for the support. **_


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Ten:_

"Hodgins, see if you can triangulate the Bone's cell phone signal." Booth said. His partner had been missing for two days. It was Friday. That meant that Parker could have been missing for nearly a week. He bet that the two were together.

"Booth, no offense, but her cell phone could be dead by now." Hodgins said.

Booth picked up the closest thing he could find, which just happened to be a glass beaker and threw it up against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces, which seemed to mirror what his heart was doing.

"Booth!" Angela exclaimed.

"It's my son, my partner! I can't do anything but sit here and wait." He exclaimed. "What kind of man, protector am I if I can't protect the two people who mean the most to me?"

"You're human Booth. You let your ex keep your son on your weekend because it made your son happy. You forfeited your own happiness for him. You are showing Brennan how to communicate with the living, she is growing as a human being. You did all this, and you will continue to do all this because we are going to find them. You can't give up. If you give up, then who is going to continue on Booth?" Angela placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks Ange."

He could tell that people were giving up hope. Last night, Shelia Vasquez, appeared on TV pleading for any information on their missing children. Booth didn't appear because of his job, and mostly because he was out searching for his son. He wasn't one of those parents who stayed at home waiting for a phone call. He was a doer, and he was going insane. There wasn't much more he could do.

Search and rescue had been called off. It seemed to Booth that it was becoming more of a recovery mission. There were also less volunteers showing up. They were now dredging the lake with the discovery of Brennan's car.

Her car had yielded no help to discovery of where she was being held or where she was in the wilderness. He ran his hand through his hair. He needed his son. He needed his Bones.

"Booth, we found her cell phone signal." Hodgins said running up to him. He grabbed the coordinates, and he and the rest of the squint team ran out to find her and Parker.

Booth contacted Cullen to let him know. He sent the information to the men at the park. They were going to focus the search on another area of the park, by the lake.

"What are other things in that area?" Booth wanted to know.

Zack pulled up the schematics. "There are a series of underground mines that were used to mine copper in the late 1960s. They were closed down in the 90s. Most of those tunnels collapsed in."

"Most but not all. It would be a good place to hide my forensic anthropologist and my son." Booth said. Angela caught his slip of the tongue with him referring to Brennan as his.

"Booth, they blocked all the entrances."

"There might be other ways in though. It is the only place in this whole damn park we haven't checked yet!"

They took off the site. Booth had a new fire lit underneath him. They pulled up to the lake and started down a trail.

"Bones, Parker, Sam!" The team started to scream. Something red and familiar caught Booth's eye.

He ran over to the spot and pulled out the hoodie that Brennan had spotted two days before, next to it was his partner's cell phone. He saw the dried blood on it and the bullet hole. "Parker!" He screamed.

He handed the hoodie to Angela who started tearing up. "Booth."

"This means nothing. He isn't wearing it. Is there a mine near hear?"

"There is air vent over there." Hodgins pointed to it. Then it looks like it goes to the right."

"We have to find a way down there." Booth said.

-------

Sam noticed that the pretty lady was struggling. Her health had been failing her and Parker was more feverish. But she continued to walk on.

"Tempe?" Sam asked. "I think I am going to run up ahead. I see some light."

She looked up ahead and saw some light. "Go ahead Sam, I will be right behind you."

She shifted Parker to her hip. He was having a hard time staying away, sometimes murmuring for his father in his sleep. She kissed the top of his sandy blonde mop. "Parker, I will get you back to your Dad, I promise."

She continued to make her way. Her breathing was labored. She stopped to rest leaning down against the wall. She looked to were here leg was grazed by the bullet. It was oozing, it wasn't a good sign. Her shoulder ached. She bet that was infected as well, and on top of the cold that was never going away, well . . . she could tell she was in bad shape.

Sam looked back and saw Dr. Brennan unconscious against the wall. There was a grate keeping them from getting out. "Help us please!" He started screaming at the top of his lungs.

Booth and the rest of the team was trudging along the forest along the path of the underground mine. He occasionally would find an air vent, but nothing that would help. It was getting dark and Cullen kept calling to tell him to get back to the check in point, but he just couldn't. He needed to find his son and partner.

Booth's ears perked up. The squints were still screaming. "Quiet down. I think I hear something."

The all stopped and heard a voice screaming for help just south of where they were standing. They all took off running to where the voice was coming from.

Brennan woke up. Her body was giving out. Parker was resting quietly on her lap. She felt as if she was dying. She whispered to Parker knowing the little boy wouldn't hear. "Parker, tell your dad I love him." Parker unconsciously held tighter on to her.

Booth ran up and saw a rather dirty Sam Vasquez standing on the other side of the grate. "Mr. Booth, the pretty doctor and Parker are over there. They are hurt really bad." Sam told him with a very hoarse voice.

Booth shined his light into the tunnel and saw Brennan collapsed against the wall with Parker on her lap. He saw the bandage on his son's shoulder.

"Angela, call the FBI. We need a blow torch and a medic to get them out!"

"I am going down that air shaft." He said. He shined his flashlight down to the opening to the air vent. He shot the lock of and dropped himself into the mine.

He ran over to where his partner and son where. Booth dropped to his knees. "Parker, Daddy's here." He whispered into his son's ear.

Parker opened his eyes. "Daddy?" He wrapped his arms around his father's neck and nuzzled closer in. "Daddy, me and Tempe don't feel to good."

"I know honey." He said. He shifted Parker into a comfortable position and dropped down to tend to Bones. Booth did a once over and looked at her infected wounds. "Oh God Temperance."

She opened her eye. "I knew you would find us." She gave him a weak smile. She was wheezing. Booth took off his jacket which was a difficult task to do with Parker still clinging on to him. He wrapped it around his partner since Parker had on Bone's jacket. "Booth, it's hard to breathe."

"I know Honey, hold on. Just rest now. Help is on the way." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and was holding on tight to his son. Parker was feverish. Brennan couldn't breathe. He wanted to panic, he wanted to scream, but he knew he had to hold it together. He walked over to Sam and began to comfort the child.

Angela made the call never letting her eyes off of Booth. He was sitting there calming Sam, even though Booth didn't know if his loved ones would make it.

_AN: Thanks for all the support. I finally brought the two back together after several chapters apart. We have to make it through the hospital now! I'm having a hard time with those chapters, even though it is written already. Booth obviously would have to run back and forth between their rooms, as a father he won't want to leave his son's side, and he loves Brennan – just having a hard time with where I want to concentrate his time. Brennan or Parker, you can vote if you want. Review please – need some inspiration._


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Eleven:_

It had taken them an hour to cut the rusted iron grate off the entrance to the mine. The medics were on standby.

Sam rushed out of the mine into his mother's waiting arms. She clung to him tightly like he was the only person in the world. The paramedics managed to pry him away from his mother and started to attend to his severe dehydration.

Booth reluctantly handed Parker over to the paramedics and watched as they began to work on the two most important people in his world. Parker seemed to be lifeless in the paramedic's arms._ 'Seeley, stop it, your son is alive thanks to your partner.' _He thought.

Booth watched helplessly as they cut through Parker's shirt. He saw the bullet hole in his son's shoulder. Anger immediately ran through his body. He saw the IV flowing into him, trying to keep him hydrated. He heard something about infection and minor blood loss.

He watched as the paramedics started working on Brennan loading her into the ambulance. He heard them say something about a tension pneumothorax.

Booth watched from the sideline helplessly. Angela came by him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "They are fighters Booth." She told him as Hodgins slipped his hand around his girlfriend's waist. Booth envied the two of them. He would never know if Brennan would ever get the chance to hear him say how much he loved her. He should have never encouraged her to go after Parker. He knew she was recovering from a cold and should have never let her think that going after Parker was okay.

"Ange, this is my fault." Booth whispered. "She went looking for my son when I was unable to."

"We need to administer amoxicillin," the paramedic exclaimed looking at Parker.

Booth spun around. "Don't give him that, he is allergic, he'll go into shock."

"How do you know?"

"I'm his father."

The paramedic nodded and began to administer a different antibiotic. "Anything else we need to know?"

"He is allergic to penicillin, amoxicillin, and sulfa." He said. "Can I go with him?"

"No room."

"Keep him safe." He gave his unconscious boy a kiss on the forehead. "Daddy will be right behind you okay. I love you Bub, stay strong." Parker opened up his eyes for a brief second and drifted back into unconsciousness.

He looked at Brennan. He saw the paramedics cut off her shirt. There was a huge bruise around her ribcage. She started wheezing, like she was trying to get air.

"We have to get her to the emergency room now!" The paramedic immediately did a needle thoracocentesis to relieve the pressure and intubated. That seemed to help her breathing. He went to her and held her hand.

"I love you." He whispered to his unconscious partner. He kissed her on the forehead.

Booth couldn't go with any of them because it was going to be too crowded in the ambulance. He ran to the car and turned on his FBI issued sirens to break every speeding law possible to get to the hospital. Angela went with him. Jack and Zack stayed behind to collect evidence.

----------

The ride to the hospital had been the longest hour of his life. First they had to hike back to their vehicles and then drive to George Washington General. He ran into the ER leaving Angela to park the vehicle.

"I need to know where Parker Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan are treated." Booth said to the receptionist. Angela was beside him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You are?"

"I'm Parker's father, and Dr. Brennan's partner."

"Parker was very insistent on staying with his Tempe." She said with a smile. "He woke up about twenty minutes ago and demanded to be in the same room as Dr. Brennan. He even threatened to call the FBI if he couldn't see her. We placed them together. They are in ER 2b."

"Thank you."

He ran down the corridor fearing the worse. His fears subsided though when he got outside the room. Booth heard something he thought he would never hear again, the sound of Brennan and Parker's voice.

He came into the room. "Thank God you guys are alright." He started crying. He sunk in the chair.

"Tempe, why is Daddy crying?" Parker asked. He put his hand on his father's cheek. "Daddy, Tempe saved us."

"Yeah she did Bub. Daddy is just so happy that you are okay."

"They stuck me with a needle. Tempe said it was okay, that it was helping me stay hibated." He said showing him where he was hooked up to the IV.

"Hyrdated." She corrected.

"She let them stick her too. She was brave." Parker explained. Booth smiled at his son. "I wasn't going to let them hurt her. I was trying to p'otect her like you said. Booth men p'otect women."

Booth chuckled. The x-ray technician came in. "Hey, we have to take the little guy here for x-rays."

Parker looked a little unsure. "They are going to take a picture of your bones." Brennan explained to him.

"Go with the nice man."

"I'll go with him Booth." Angela volunteered and got down to eye level with Parker. "Hey. Do you remember me?"

Parker looked at his dad. "It is fine Bub. Go down to x-ray with Miss Angela."

"Okay. I guess I will go. You keep Tempe safe."

Finally alone in the room, Booth approached his partner. "I thought I lost you there."

"They said I flat-lined in the ambulance on the way here. Something about a collapsed lung causing multiple organ distress."

The look of anguish crossed his face. "Bones." He whispered. "I failed you. I failed my son. I'm sorry."

"Booth, you didn't fail us."

"I couldn't keep you safe. I couldn't keep my son safe. Let's see, he was shot, you were stabbed . . ."

"And there is no need for you to have any guilt about. I went after your son. You needed him . . . " She trailed off not wanting to add that she needed him. She said placing her hand on his cheek. "You are not responsible for all the craziness that can happen in the world of the people you love. Booth it is too much responsibility for you to have to shoulder."

"Bones, you are incredible. But I should have been able to protect you and Parker from this. My God, he got shot, his mother is dead, you were stabbed and grazed by a madman!"

"Seeley, you aren't responsible for any of that." She whispered. "You are his everything, and he is your everything. You raised a wonderful child."

"You are incredible." He whispered. "Thank you for protecting him."

"All in a days work." She gave him a smile. She started to cough again.

"I shouldn't have let you go after him. Even if you were feeling well, I shouldn't have let you go after him."

"First of all, you don't _let_ me do anything, I decided on my own to find him. I wouldn't have listened to you if you had told me to wait until I felt better. Second of all, they cancelled the search, and something kept telling me to search. I knew that with every passing moment Parker would be in more trouble and that we may not ever had seen him again, then you would have blamed yourself. The loss of your son would have been too much to handle."

He nodded knowing that she was right. "Thank you Temperance. Thank you." He murmured into her hair. She was drowsy, and he was exhausted. He placed his head down near her uninjured shoulder and fell asleep next to his sleeping partner.

Angela came back into the room with a sleeping Parker Booth. She caught sight of them and smiled. The tech slid Parker back on to the hospital bed. "They must have gone through some ordeal." The tech said to her.

"You have no idea."

_AN: Thanks for the reviews you guys rock. _

_You and Me Kelly: I actually used to watch Crossing Jordan but stopped when she was going mental about looking for her mom's killer. So if it seems like this story mirrors it, then sorry. I'll have to try to catch the reruns on A&E to see the similarities. I guess great minds think alike. What was the name of the epi – maybe I can download it. Thanks!_

_I actually got this idea from camping in the Appalachian Mountains with some college roommates. We were hiking and found some caves and caverns. I thought, hey if I wanted to hide someone in here I could (not that I ever would, as you can see, I have an over active imagination). I actually made Brennan sick because I was sick when I started writing this and was going to make it pure fluff, but it wouldn't be a Bones story without a case, and angst now would it! _

_I think I know where I want this to go now. I put them together in the ER, but will have them apart for a few scenes. BB fluff to come again. Some angst, just cause I like it, and I might feel evil again hehehe._

_Emma 6373 – To answer the questions about a Speech Language Pathologist – I work with people with a variety of communication/hearing/swallowing/speech disorders. I break down the cause of disorder (mostly stroke, developmental disorders) and then rehab them to a point of being able to function in society again. Basically I give a voice to the voiceless and rehab stroke patients. ____ I love my job. If you want to know anything else, I'll be glad to answer any questions._

_Keep reading and reviewing – you guys rock my socks!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Twelve:_

Brennan woke up the next morning in her own hospital room. She was a little dazed. The nasal canula in her nose was driving her insane and her arm itched on where the IV was inserted. It was much better though then sleeping on the hard mine floor though.

She heard some rustling outside, and the screech of a little boy. "I want Tempe, where is Tempe!"

The nurse came in noting she was awake. "Ma'am, we can't get your partner's son to calm down. He had a nightmare last night and has been agitated ever since."

"Set him up here on the bed with me."

"It's against hospital policy."

"And I am sure that bringing a little boy down here without telling his father is the number one hospital policy. Give Parker to me now."

The nurse relented and settled Parker on the bed with Brennan. She stroked his hair and rubbed his back.

The little boy had bloodshot eyes and it was apparent that he had been crying. "Hey there Parker." It had amazed her that she was so attached to this child. Anthropologically speaking it was shown that throughout cultures women had this innate sense to protect the young even if it wasn't their own.

"Tempe, I'm scared. It was dark, and you weren't there. Daddy was gone again." He snuggled in close to her, resting his head on her uninjured side. She looped her arm around him and squeezed him.

"What are you scared about?"

"That the man is going to take me away from Daddy like he took away Mommy." Parker had tears in his eyes. Booth came down after settling Parker into the pediatric ward and told Brennan that he just told Parker about his mom.

"Parker, you know I would never lie to you right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not going to promise that nothing will ever happen to the people that you love, but you will always have someone who loves you. If anything ever happens to your Dad, you will not end up like me, okay?"

"What happened to you?"

"My mom and dad went away, and I got bounced from house to house. But that will never happen to you." She explained simply to him.

"Tempe, did they come back for you?"

"No Honey. My Mom died a long time ago and never made it back for me." She answered him. She would explain to him later about her father.

"Did you cry?'

"I still do sometimes." She answered him truthfully.

"Can I cry?" Parker asked. Tears were brimming in his eyes.

"Yeah, honey, you can."

Parker sniffled and the tears starting coming. "I miss Mommy. Is she in heaven?"

"I am sure that your mommy and my mommy are in heaven together." She answered. She knew that Booth believed in heaven and she wasn't going to ruin Parker's belief in heaven.

Seeley Booth was standing outside the room, comforted in knowing that his Bones was still looking out for his son. He had felt guilty because he ran home to get a shower and to start working out a living situation for him and Parker. He knew that no matter what he wasn't going to be happy without Bones with them. Parker had grown an attachment to his partner.

"Tempe?" Parker looked up at her.

"Yeah sweetie?"

"Can I stay in here with you?"

"Yeah Honey. Just rest now okay." The little boy curled up into a ball on the bed and snuggled in closer to her.

He walked into her room and saw his son curled up in Brennan's bed. It couldn't have been comfortable for her, considering that his son was wearing a rather large chunky cast on his left ankle.

"Bones, you don't have to let him sleep in your bed."

"The nurse brought him down here to me."

"Why?"

"He was upset and asking for me. Apparently he had a bad dream that the man who hurt him was going to hurt you and take him away from you again. Booth, he is really terrified that he is going to be taken from you again. He is scared of the dark. He probably has some post traumatic stress disorder."

"Probably."

"Stay with us." She whispered.

"Bones, I wouldn't leave if God himself tried to drag me away. You know that Parker is going to have to talk to the FBI psychiatrist today. We have to catch the son of a bitch who did this."

Parker stirred in his sleep. "Daddy said a bad word." He murmured.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry Bub. You know that Daddy loves you and will never let anything happen."

"I know Daddy. I love you to Daddy. I love Tempe too." Parker said sighing and closing his eyes again.

Bones ruffled the blonde mop. "You know, instead of Parker talking to the psychiatrist, we should bring Angela up here. She is really good."

"Good idea Bones."

He picked up the phone and made arrangements for Angela to come with the psychiatrist. They had the appointment set for 11:00. Bones looked down at the little boy. How much more could one little guy take?

Booth looked down at his sleeping son and noticed that his partner had fallen asleep as well. He settled himself down in the chair and drank in site. About an hour later Parker woke up wanting to be held by his dad.

"Daddy?" Parker spoke up lifting his arms up, prompting Booth to scoop him up in his arms.

"Hey Parker." He spoke softly picking his son up off the bed. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah. I was scared when you weren't there." He said.

"You know it is okay to be scared. I was so very scared when I couldn't find you. I can't promise that I will be around forever, but what I will promise you is that as long as I am alive I will figure a way to get home to you."

"And Tempe?"

"Yeah, I will figure a way to get home to here too." He kissed the top of his son's head and held him close. He was just so happy to have them back.

_AN: I took two anthropology classes in my well rounded college career – I think the thing about women protecting their young is pretty well documented. Also thanks for all the reviews, I love reading all of them. Reviews rock my socks!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter Thirteen:_

Brennan lay quietly in her bed watching the father and son. She knew at that moment that she had made the right decision when going on her own to look for Parker. Booth looked right at home with his son in his arms. She turned slightly to look at the clock, it was 10:45 almost time for Parker to go talk to the psychologist and Angela. She only hoped that the little boy didn't have to suffer much more pain.

"Daddy, can I give Tempe a hug before I have to go talk with Miss Angela?"

"I wouldn't want to wake her up Bub."

"I'm already awake." Brennan mumbled to her partner. "Come here Wiggle Worm." She outstretched her arms and Booth placed him gently on her lap. "You are the bravest little boy I know." She whispered loudly into his ear. Booth grinned at her.

Parker looked up and beamed at her. He whispered loudly into her ear, "You are the most bodiful lady that I have met! And the bravest."

She had him on her lap still. "Parker, you get that from your Dad." Parker enveloped Brennan into a big hug and acted like he didn't want to go.

"I'll be right here when you get done, and we will have your daddy go get us candy and we will watch Finding Nemo." She told him. Booth gave her a look. "We talked a lot while we were in the tunnels Booth."

"Uh-huh," Parker said. "Did you know that Tempe's favorite movie is Indiana Jones?"

"And did you know that my favorite movie is Indiana Jones as well?" He scooped his son off the bed and they waved by to Brennan. She missed the excitement of her men, '_Her men?? Where did that come from?' she thought_, but was thankful to have a couple of minutes alone to herself so she could think about where all this was going to lead.

----------

Booth set Parker down into the child's playroom which the hospital said they could use for the time being. He set Parker up on playing the WII, choosing a game that he knew was child appropriate and that he would be good at and waited near the door for Angela and Dr. Wyatt.

"Parker, Daddy is going to be in here with you while you talk to Miss Angela and Dr. Wyatt."

"Okay Daddy."

He watched as Parker skillfully made matched on the matching game and smiled. He barely heard Angela and Dr. Wyatt come up.

Angela sat next to Parker on the floor watching him play his video games and started sketching him playing. "What are you doing Miss Angela?" Parker said laying down his video game controller.

"I'm sketching a picture." She answered it. She showed it to him.

"That's me!" He exclaimed. "Can I see your other pictures?"

"Sure Honey." She answered helping him up to the child size table that was set up. Dr. Wyatt watched and waited. Angela flipped open her sketch book of different animals and Parker started relaying all the information he knew about snakes, octopuses, dogs, and cats.

He looked at a picture of an elephant. "Mommy and Drew took me to the zoo! We saw the elephants!" He got a sad look on his face. "They won't be able to take me to the zoo no more."

Booth's heart clenched in his chest, but he waited. Dr. Wyatt spoke up. "Parker, you know it is okay to be sad about your Mum and Drew."

"I know. Tempe is sad about her mom and dad too." Parker said. "But she said it is okay to cry. But I am supposed to be brave."

Angela saw an opening. "You had to be brave all weekend long didn't you?"

"Yeah. Mom, Drew, Alex, Conner, Sam, and me all went camping last weekend. Conner and me were talking about how brave we had to be. It was Mommy's first time camping. But I wasn't scared like Mommy was of the trees. Daddy takes me camping all the time!" Parker exclaimed. "Don't you Daddy?"

"We sure do Bub."

Parker continued on describing his weekend. "We went to the Ranger stationed and checked in. Ranger Graves gave us a badge and made us honorary park Rangers. I told him my daddy was an Army Ranger, but he said it wasn't the same thing. Daddy always told me when we go camping to stay on the trails." Parker looked at his dad, and walked over to sit by him.

"Drew and Mr. Vaskez told us to go find fire wood since we were park Rangers. Sam, Conner and I went out into the woods, but we stayed were we could see Mommy. Daddy I promise I could see Mommy."

"I know Bub."

"Sam jumped out of the trees scaring Conner and Conner went walking back to his Dad, but he didn't make it." Parker walked over to the table and started drawing, but kept talking. He picked up a red crayon. "There was blood everywhere. Sam grabbed me and we started running through the woods. Mom had blood coming out of her chest, Drew fell to the ground and Mr. Vaskez got hit by something. Sam helped me up when I got hit." Parked put down the crayon. He went over to his father. He sat silent for a couple of minutes, tears were falling down his cheek. Booth picked him up and rocked him.

"We hid in the woods, but the bad man found us. He told us that we were bad children and that our parents didn't want us anymore! He said he found new parents for us."

Booth got angry, but held his tongue. Parker continued on. "Tempe told me we would have to talk about what happened. She called me brave, but I don't feel so brave.

The bad man grabbed us and threw us in a mine. He told us how much money he could make off of us. What does that mean Daddy?"

Booth looked at his son. "I don't know Bub." He secretly knew though and mentally ticking off the days until he had a chance to nail the bastard.

Parker went back to the table. He picked up a black crayon and started coloring another picture with Angela. She looked down at the picture. "It was dark in the cave wasn't it Parker." She spoke softly to him. Parker had drawn a picture of what she could assume was Sam, Bones, and Parker in the mine.

"Yeah. The mean man threw us in the mine and shut out the light." Parker spoke softly. "Then Sam and I heard some rumbling. When I woke up, Sam was on the other side of the wall screaming at me, asking if I was okay. The ceiling fell down. I didn't feel so good. My shoulder was aching, and my ankle was hurt. But it feels better now."

"That's great!" Dr. Wyatt said, sitting down to draw.

"Tempe told me down in the tunnel it was broken, but that I would get a cool cast. Tempe dug a hole to get to me." Parker told them. "She cleaned my shoulder. It hurt, but it was okay. She kept telling me we would get home. I knew my Daddy would find us.

The bad man caught up with us a little further down the tunnel. Tempe had to stop to rest because she was sick, and so was I. I woke up and the man was touching himself." Parker paused. "Daddy and Mommy always said that some people were sick and if they were doing that we should tell them.

"He said he would trade Tempe for Sam and me, and Tempe said okay, and she made Sam take me down the tunnel. But I saw him touch her. Daddy, I yelled for him to stop. He touched her here." Parker pointed to his chest. "Daddy, was did he mean a trade? Like I trade football cards?"

"I don't know honey." Booth remembered the day they had to tell Parker about perverts. They were playing t-ball and a pedophile had exposed himself to the entire team. Booth had arrested the man, and sat down with the entire team to explain about bad people.

Parker continued. "Tempe kicked some wood and caused the wall to fall down. A rock fell on her chest. But she just got up, picked me up and kept walking. We made it down to where the light was, but Tempe was weaker. She was hurt bad. She told me to tell Daddy she loved him. And then Daddy showed up!" Parker held up his picture. He had drawn several during the hour and a half long session. Angela sat there silently. Brennan had proclaimed her love for her partner when she thought it was going to be the end. Booth was digesting it all. If it was possible, he had fallen even more in love with her.

"How do you feel Parker?"

"I don't like the dark. I miss Tempe. I'm mad at Mommy for leaving." Parker got out. He was exhausted. He started crying. Booth scooped him up.

"Daddy is going to find the bad man Parker. I am going to put him away in jail forever." He vowed to his son.

Booth held him and rocked him to sleep. He put him back down in the pediatric wing next to Sam. Sam had talked to the psychiatrist earlier. Shelia Vasquez looked at Booth.

"You are going to catch the son of a bitch, right?" Shelia asked.

"I swear on my life, I am going to catch him. Angela, can you stay with them? I have to go check on my partner."

"Sure Booth." Angela sat down next to Parker.

He kissed his son on the cheek and tucked him in with his favorite teddy bear. He walked down the two flights of stairs to where his partner was. He knocked on the door.

"Temperance," He said as he walked into the room.

_AN: I know that it takes a little bit to talk about things to people, but I didn't really want to draw that out, so I rushed it. I feel evil – sorry about the cliff hanger. Time in between posting now may slow down. I caught up with myself. Thanks again. You reviewers are great! Any ideas on what is going to happen in the room?_

_More Parker and Bones interaction!_

_Bones and Booth fluff._


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter Fourteen:_

He entered the room and found Sully sitting in the room with her. "Booth," He said getting up greeting him. "Temperance and I were just getting caught up."

Booth looked over at his partner. "She has gone through a lot in the past couple of days." He sat down in the chair next to her. "When did you get back?"

"I flew in when I saw the news report." Sully answered. "I knew she would need someone." He said. Booth saw red and was getting ready to retort when he heard a soft voice.

"How is Parker?" Brennan asked trying to break the tension in the room.

"He is sleeping. Angela is keeping an eye on him for me."

Sully got up. "I am going to check in with the office since I am officially back from vacation. I'll be back in a couple of hours Tempe." Sully stood up and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Feel better, okay. Booth keep an eye on her for me, will you?"

"You can count on it." Booth answered. He watched as Sully left the floor and turned back to his partner.

"Is Parker alright?" She asked him. The concern for his son was evident in her bright blue orbs. "No child should have to relive that situation."

"Bones . . . he opened up like a flood gate. Parker told us everything that happened down in the tunnels. He said that you agreed to a trade and that he touched you." Booth was pacing in the hospital room.

"I agreed to a trade to keep him from getting to the boys. He coped a feel and lowered his gun. It gave me enough time to kick down the dry rotted support beam to protect the boys." She answered.

"That bastard touched you! I swear . . ." He started. He looked at his partner. She was twirling her hair. "Temperance . . ."

"Booth, what do you want me to say?" She flinched at the thought.

"Bones." He whispered.

"Booth, my last foster father tried to touch my younger foster sister. I had done one trade before, I would do anything to protect your son."

The tears began to flow. Booth saw it and thumbed away her tears. "Oh my God Temperance. I am so sorry. I didn't know. Your foster father raped you." He whispered.

"Yeah he did. It happened a long time ago, and because of that experience, I learned to defend myself, and it helped me defend your son."

Booth sat down beside her and held her hand. "Temperance," He didn't know what to say. She just admitted something that should have never happened to her. It's not your job to protect Parker."

"Parker needed me. You couldn't get to him. He needed someone you were counting on me."

"Bones, I put you in harms way. That wacko could have hurt you the same way your foster father did. I will never put you in harm's way again."

"Yeah, I know. But you can't control the world Booth." She shut her eyes, forcing what her father foster had done back into her mind. "He coped a feel, not more than what would happen at a club or a bar." She answered him. "He is a sick man Booth."

"Temperance, no guy should ever touch a woman like that. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you." He said dropping to the seat beside her. "Bones, I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you. You shouldn't go around getting yourself into trouble."

"You didn't lose me. You found us and we will catch the bad guy." She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I won't sleep until I find that bastard." He said.

"You will have to sleep eventually Booth." She quipped at him.

"It is a figure of speech Bones." He said. He looked at her. He realized just how worse it could have been in the mines. The man could have raped her, the man could have scarred his son worse, what if he hadn't been able to find them? Now his partner was probably reliving what happened to her when she was a teenager. He knew she was thinking about it, however he knew when the topic was closed.

"What is going on in your head?" She whispered.

"Just thinking." He answered.

"You got this look on your face, the one you get when you are overly worried about Parker or me. It's irrational Booth. You can't keep the both of us safe all the time."

"I can try." He told her. She nodded knowing that she was defeated. There was gong to be no talking sense into him.

"What else did Parker say in the session?" She asked. Her eyes started fluttering.

"He was talking about how you told him that you lo-" His phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, his mom.

He gave her a quick update on Parker's condition. He turned to his partner to find her sleeping peacefully. Booth smiled. He picked up her hand and kissed it. "Eventually Temperance, we are going to have to have this talk."

She lay in her bed listening to him. "Yeah, I know." She thought. She needed to put it off. All that Temperance Brennan knew was that she needed more time, and time was not on her side this time.

Booth leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. He had kissed her like this several times before, but for some reason, this kiss held an electrical shock for them. When his lips left her forehead, she immediately missed his touch.

-----------------

The nurse came in to check on her favorite patient's IV. She smiled when she saw the FBI agent was back again. She walked back into the nurses station and placed her wager in for the "When are they just going to admit it" pot.

_AN: Sorry it took a little bit for me to get this up. I had to keep tweaking until I got it the way I wanted it to read. I hope I haven't lost anyone because it took a little bit. Anyway, read and review. Reviews rock my socks. My readers rock! Have a thought, let me know. Always willing to write something new into the story._


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter Fifteen:_

Agent Tim Sullivan knew that leaving Dr. Temperance Brennan was the worst decision he had made in his life. It was hard for him to leave her, but if she were to take him back, he was going to spend the rest of his life trying to make her happy. He walked back into the hospital carrying her favorite flowers.

He had a huge smile on his face. He went to go walk into her room. There was a new agent was outside her door. Booth had been very persistent in getting people assigned to the doors protecting Brennan and Parker.

"Sir, I need some identification."

He flipped his badge. "Special Agent Tim Sullivan," He answered. "Dr. Brennan and I have some history together."

"The doctors still have a restriction of how many people can visit Dr. Brennan and little Parker. She needs her rest."

"I assure you that I am not going to hinder Temperance from getting her rest."

The guard nodded and opened the door for him. He walked into the room. He saw her sitting up in the bed typing on her laptop which Booth had reluctantly given her.

"Sully, they are beautiful." She told him as he put the flowers down by her bedside.

"Anything for you Tempe." He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled up at him. She didn't feel the electricity that it once held, and even then it dulled in comparison with what she felt with Booth had done the same action.

Booth cleared his throat from the doorway holding a squirming little boy in his arms. Parker looked at his Tempe.

"Tempe!" He threw his arms out to her.

"Son, Dr. Brennan may want to spend some time alone Agent Sullivan." Booth said. The truth of the matter being is that he didn't want to see his Bones smiling up at another man.

"Hand him over now Booth." She outstretched her arms and Parker settled into her lap. She absentmindedly ran her hand through Parker's blonde hair and gave him a gentle kiss on the top of his head. "Hey Parker."

"Tempe, Daddy says I get to go home tomorrow." He smiled at her, and then his frowned. "I also have to go to Mommy's funeral."

Sully threw his old friend a sad smile. "I heard about Rebecca. Sorry."

Booth nodded his head. "Thanks."

Parker continued on. "I asked about you. I want you to leave with us. You said we would go home together."

"I said we would get out of here together." She said acknowledging the pact she made with him in the ER.

"They said that you were a lot sicker . . . that you had a fection of some kind." Parker explained to her. He snuggled into her chest. "You aren't going to die are you Tempe? I don't want you to die."

"Infection." She corrected the youngster. "No, Honey, I am not going to die anytime soon."

Booth looked at his little boy. "Our Bones isn't going anywhere." He reassured her son.

"I'm not going to leave her." Parker said. He was very adamant on it. Booth saw a sad smile form across her face. Booth knew that she was thinking about her mother, her father, her brother. They had all left her. "Tempe, promise me you will get better."

She smiled. "I promise you I will keep fighting to get better."

The answer seemed to make Parker happy. He hugged her.

"The doctor said you needed to stay here for a little bit, but Daddy is going to bring me to visit you. The doctor also said I needed to stay real quiet and not scream because you have a cussion."

"Concussion." She corrected. She rubbed her head. Brennan must have gotten hit in the head during the fight she had with the assailant before she fell into the well. Her fingers ran to the back of her head. She made contact with the stitches that were there.

Booth picked up, "The Doctors were more concerned about the dehydration and staph infection in the beginning, now they just want someone to be with you for a week for the concussion you sustained. The infection was worse than Parker's, most likely because you cleaned his wounds and not yours. When you go home in a couple of days they will want you to stay with someone."

"I'll stay with her." Sully volunteered.

"You left her behind," Booth said. "You left her and then you come waltzing back because you heard she was in trouble!"

"You got her in trouble!" He fired back.

"Hold it!" She screamed and she started coughing. Booth rubbed circles on her back helping her through the coughing fit.

"Tempe . . ." Sully stared.

"Don't!" Booth said. Angela walked into the room and picked Parked up. He mouthed a thank you to her and she nodded.

"Hey there Agent Parker. Uncle Jack and I are going to go get some ice cream and we need our Agent to help us on this mission. We don't know what to get them! Why don't we get some for Daddy? Uncle Jack and I don't know what type he eats." Angela explained to the young boy.

"Can we get some for Tempe?"

"Sure." Jack answered.

The three of them left the room, and Temperance was fuming. "I can't believe you two fighting in front of him! The last thing Parker needs to hear is people fighting. We all just need to remain calm."

Booth looked down at the ground. Sully stared straight ahead at a mark on the wall.

"You left me Sully! I couldn't just leave everything behind! You said you were worth it, but wasn't I worth it to stay?"

Booth just stayed by her side unwilling to move. 'God, she is worth everything.'

"I went willingly to look for Parker. Booth didn't get me in trouble." She looked at both of them. "Sully, I appreciate your concern for me, however Booth is right, you left me. You don't have to right to waltz back in to my life and assume that it is going to be the exact way it was. My life has changed."

"I can see that." He answered. "You didn't wait too long to snatch her up did you?"

"I didn't do anything like that Sully! Bones is a human being, not a possession. You can't possess something like her, trying to posses her would be like putting a lion in a small cage. It would kill her spirit. Besides, she makes up her own mind." Booth said calmly to him. "You left."

"Sully, I need my friend, and you are a good friend. Please," She asked him.

"Tempe, I would do anything for you. I will stay with you if you want." He told her. They were speaking calmly now and Jack motioned for Angela to bring Parker back in.

"I am perfectly fine to stay on my own. I just want to get out of here and get a decent bath. I swear I haven't showered in at least a week now."

Booth nodded. "So that is what I smell." He said smiling at her. She punched him in the arm. Parker was laughing at them as he settled back onto her lap handing here a concoction of vanilla and gummy bears. She smiled happily at the little boy, letting him pick gummy bears out of the dish. Sully looked at the little family and knew that he had lost his chance.

"Temperance, if you need anything, give me a call okay?" Sully told her. He looked at Booth. "Seeley, you take care of her."

Booth nodded and gave the man a smile. "I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her. Tim, it's good to have you back."

Sully made a quiet exit. All he ever wanted was for her to be happy.

_AN: Thanks for all the reviews. I couldn't be that evil with Agent Sullivan, he was actually a decent character that cared for Temperance, but it pissed me off that he told her that he thought that he was worth it - but what about her? So I wrote that in and because of people always leaving her, I imagine that it would have hurt her immensly to watch him sail away. Read and review, but more importantly enjoy._


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter Sixteen:_

Booth made his way downstairs. She looked up and smiled at him. "How is Parker doing? He must be excited to be getting out of here."

"Actually the doctors decided to extend his stay until tomorrow. His staph infection still needs IV antibiotics. Luckily, my insurance is going to cover everything. Good insurance is one of the perks behind being a civil servant. How are you?"

"What are you doing to do about Rebecca's funeral?"

"I am going to go and pay my respects." He said sadly. He put his head in his hands. "I know that Rebecca and I never really got along all that great. I cared about her. She was still a friend and a great mother to Parker. There are going to be so many things that she is going to miss in his life."

"Life can change in the close of an eye Booth." She told him.

He thought about what she said. "It's blink Bones. Blink of an eye."

"Oh. Well, life can change in the blink of an eye and even though we don't want change to occur it does."

"Try explaining that to a four year old."

"Try explaining that to a fifteen year old. It doesn't get any easier. Help me into the wheelchair."

"Why?"

"Because I am tired of being in this room, and I am going to go upstairs and sit with the little boy while his arm is hooked up to the IV."

He helped her into the wheelchair. She had lost some weight. "Bones you are turning into bones."

"I haven't been hungry lately, the food here stinks. You know that, all you did was eat pudding when you were here."

"Point taken. I'll bring you anything you want to eat. How about a sub sandwich?"

"You'll make it the way I like it?"

"Turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, cucumbers and alfalfa sprouts." He listed.

"Yeah."

"You'll eat it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." He pushed her to the elevator to go see Parker. He shifted uncomfortably next to her. He needed to tell her everything, but the words just didn't seem to be enough. She had saved everything to him.

"Booth, are you okay?" She asked as he pushed her to his son's room.

"Yeah. I just have a lot of things going on in my mind. I can't believe Rebecca's gone." He whispered. "She was a good woman."

"Mmm." She said. She knew that it wasn't what he had on his mind. Parker lay quietly in his bed staring at the IV dripping into his arm. "You know this is going to be hard on him." She whispered.

"Yeah, I know."

Her heart went out to her men. She didn't know what she could do to take the pain away for the both of them, but all she knew is that they were hurting. She saw it in the depths of their eyes. "It is hard on you too."

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and did the same with his son. "Booth!" She called out to him. He turned around. She pushed herself up out of the wheelchair, with what seemed to take most of her strength and walked to him.

"Bones! You shouldn't over exert yourself." Booth didn't know what to say. She was tired and still weak.

"I don't know what to say to make it okay." She wrapped her arms around him the best she could.

"You are making it okay." He whispered it into her hair. He arms went around her, he was mindful of her bandage where she was stabbed and the stitched at the base of her neck. He gazed into her eyes. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you Bones."

"You didn't, I'm here, and I am going to be here to help you through everything."

Booth held on to her tightly. He helped her back into the wheelchair and watched as the FBI agent dropped a light kiss on her cheek. She smiled back at him.

The nurse on the pediatric ward smiled and ran down the stairs. She had won the put. Christmas was going to be good with an extra thousand in her pocket!


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter Seventeen:_

Booth held his sleeping son in his arms as Angela and Jack pulled the dark standard issue FBI vehicle around to pick them up. It was almost 7:00 at night when the doctors had finally signed the discharge papers for Parker and Brennan. Brennan looked at him in her wheelchair. He was stroking his son's back whispering that he loved him.

"You are a good father Booth." Brennan said as she watched the two together.

"You know when I was with Rebecca, I didn't get to take him home from the hospital. I really didn't have the change to take care of him when he was a baby. Rebecca didn't want me there on the day she brought him home. I didn't get to hold him in my arms enough. I didn't get a chance to tell him that I loved him enough. I am not going to take any of that stuff for granted any more. I get to take my son home with me." Booth was telling her. "I'm going to be a full time father, and I don't know how to do that."

"You'll learn." She said. "I can only imagine how hard it was for you not to be there for him. Anthropologically speaking, a father and son relationship is very complex. Mothers are normally seen as the nurturing one and fathers are more of the protectors and punishers. You however are a very good nurturer yourself. Parker is very lucky to have you."

He sighed. Leave it to his Bones to have an anthropological reason for what he felt. "Bones, it is nothing more than love. I love my son unconditionally, and I always will." Parker stirred in Booth lap.

"Mr. Booth?" A nurse called to him. "We need your signature on one more piece of paper."

He looked at Bones. "Do you mind holding him while I sign one more piece of paper?"

"Of course not." She replied. She outstretched her arms and settled the child into her arms.

Brennan had spent almost a week looking on for the small child sitting on her lap. She was in awe about how this child had unconditionally put his trust in her. He held on to her. Parker was whispering. "No, Mommy, Drew!"

She started whispering. "Parker, it's Tempe. I love you." She whispered the three words over and over again, until his nightmare subsided. He pulled his thumb into his mouth to seek comfort in his sleep. She sighed into his hair.

Parker stirred. "Tempe I had a bad dream."

"I know Buddy." She rocked him. It was all coming so naturally to her. It almost scared her. Everyone she loved always left her. She sighed. Something in her had become responsible for him the moment that Parker had placed his faith in her. She looked up to the sky. "I don't know if you are out there, but just keep him happy and safe."

Booth was behind her. "I thought you didn't believe in God Bones."

"I still don't have proof, but I feel something. I knew for some reason you would find us."

"It's called faith Bones. It's a start."

"What?"

"Faith is a belief without reason. You just believed that I would find you without _scientific_ knowledge that I would. It's faith, and that is what religion is based off of."

She looked off into the sky. If there was anything or anyone she had faith in, it was Booth. "Jack said I had faith in you."

"Oh yeah, when was that?" Booth asked.

"When I was buried by the gravedigger," Her response came.

Booth shuddered at the thought of almost losing her.

Angela pulled up to the hospital loading zone looking at her best friend. She grabbed Jack by the arm. "And she says she wouldn't be a good Mom."

Booth picked Parker off his partner's lap and got him situated in the car seat. He helped Bones up who was still in some pain because of her cracked ribs. Booth saw her wince in pain.

"Bones, you should really come to stay with Parker and me. You are still in pain, the doctors don't want you staying by yourself, if you have to take you pain meds, you can't drive yourself. There is such a long list."

"Booth as much as I would like to be with you and your son, I need to do this on my own. I need to get back to normal, and that doesn't include being a burden on you."

Parker looked up. He didn't like that idea, but he was sleepy and couldn't get his little voice to work.

"Parker and I will stop by tomorrow morning then to help you out. You can't move your shoulder because of the stab wound and I know from personal experience that cracked ribs hurt like hell. Also, I need to take you the pharmacy to pick up your meds, and little man's medications as well. So I will be by around 7:45."

"Angela can help me." She pointed out.

"Sorry Sweetie. As much as I want to, Hodgins and I have to be back at the lab bright and early and then we have to start planning the second attempt on this wedding of ours." Angela looked back at her. "I would love to meet you for lunch though, so wherever you guys are, give me a call and Jack and I will be there."

"What time again Booth?" She asked yawning.

"7:45. I'll call if I'm running late with the rug rat."

"What a Rug Rat?" Brennan asked.

"Parker is a rug rat." Booth explained. "That is the nickname for a small child." He pushed some blonde locks out of Parker's eyes. He shuddered at the thought of almost losing the most important thing in his life. Brennan's look of confusion shook him out of his reverie.

"It doesn't make sense Booth. Children and rats don't have the same bone structure. They can't possibly look like rats. It is an illogical nickname."

He laughed at that. Booth couldn't believe that he once found her ignorance to pop culture annoying. A week ago, he was praying just to hear it again, and now, he just wanted to be surrounded by it. "Just go with it Bones."

"See, Bones is a nickname that makes sense." She exclaimed.

"And that is why I call you it." Booth said back.

Parker looked at them, being situated between them in his car seat. He grabbed his daddy's hand in his small hand and grabbed his favorite lady's hand in his hand. He linked to two together across his lap. Angela saw what happened and smiled. The boy was going to be the best matchmaker yet


	18. Chapter 18

_Chapter Eighteen:_

Booth and Brennan dropped Angela and Hodgins back at the mansion and drove off to go to Brennan's.

"You know Hodgins told me he was rich, but I just never dreamed that it was wealthy." She said. It didn't bother her, it was just another Brennan observation.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, but for the most part he is down to earth." He noticed that the painkillers that where administered at the hospital was taking effect. He watched sleep over take her, occasionally glancing back at his sleeping son in the rearview. Booth was going to find a way to keep this family together.

Booth settled his partner in her apartment. He watched her move around the place, "Booth it is kind of eerie having you sit there and watch my every move."

"Temperance, I still don't want you staying alone. What happens if something happens, what if you start hurting?" He said.

"I'll be fine Booth. I'm just going to crawl back into the bath and soak for a little bit. I'll climb into bed and see you at 7:45."

"Tempe!" Parker cried out for her on the couch. Booth had settled his son on to the couch while he was attending to her. Booth rushed to his son's side and scooped him up.

"What's wrong?" Booth cooed into his ear.

"The bad man was in my dreams. We can't leave Tempe alone!" He persisted on. "She needs our help. She is part of our family, you said so yourself."

"Bub, Bones wants to stay in her apartment. We can't make her come stay with us." He explained to his young son.

"Can we stay here?" Parker asked with child like innocence. He wasn't giving this up.

Brennan mulled it over in her head while Booth was trying to figure out a way to explain to his son that just wasn't going to be an option. But she surprised him with her response.

"I don't see why you guys can't. The apartment is big, it's close to both of our workplace Booth." She said being logical. She knew she would need the help. She just wasn't going to verbalize it.

He sighed knowing that he would give anything for his child. "Okay. That seems like a good enough compromise. Bones, can you keep an eye on him while I go pick up the essentials. What do we need Parker?"

"We need the WII, we need my spiderman pajamas, we need Baa Baa, and smores!" Parker said rattling off his list.

"Bub we aren't moving in her for a week, just a couple of nights." He said as the list was getting longer and longer.

Brennan saw the little boy getting ready to pout as she intervened. "Why don't we go check out your room?" He nodded enthusiastically, "And then we can go into the kitchen and see what there is for dinner."

Booth mouthed a thank you while handing his son to her, and while he was leaving he heard his son shout out, "Daddy, don't forget the magazines that help you fall asleep!"

"What magazines are those?" Brennan asked the child.

Booth inwardly groaned thanking God he was out the door so Brennan couldn't see his embarrassment. "The ones with the naked ladies." He explained as Brennan took him down the hall with fresh sheets in her hands. He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She smiled shaking her head. Where was the Catholic guilt now she wondered?

-----------

Booth was exhausted after running all over creation for his family, not a bad exhausted but a good exhausted. He was trying to juggle the overnight bags, take out, and drinks as he went to knock on the door to get help, he heard his son not using his "inside voice" very well having a conversation with his partner.

" . . . and then Mommy screamed as she saw the big spider. Drew smashed it and gave her a big kiss . . ." Parker's rambling came to an abrupt stop. He gingerly climbed on top of her lap, mindful of his injuries and hers. He looked straight into her eyes and asked, "Do you and daddy kiss like that?"

"No." She answered him quickly.

"Why did Mommy and Drew kiss like that?" Parker kept on with the topic.

Brennan decided to choose her words wisely not wanting to scar the child with anthropological reasons of why kissing was and answered simply, "They love each other."

"Well Daddy says he loves you and you told me that you love Daddy when we were in the cave." Parker quipped. "So you could kiss like that." He explained moving off of her lap. "Adults are confusing. I like Emma and she likes me and we kiss."

Brennan looked at him trying to decide if it was a good idea to tell him it wasn't a good idea for him to be kissing at such an early age, but then decided that it was probably harmless but something definitely worth mentioning to Booth.

Booth decided that now would be a good time to knock. Brennan stood up answering the door without looking in the peep hole.

"You know Bones you really shouldn't open the door without checking in the peep hole." He scolded her. "I could have had a gun or something."

"You do have a gun." She said.

He sighed. "I meant I could have been a stranger with a gun."

"Oh." She took the take out from him and went to the kitchen.

"Hey Bub, I got your favorite from McDonalds." He picked Parker up from the couch. He couldn't walk because of the cast on his ankle. Booth set him in the kitchen. "Make sure to help Tempe while I put your stuff in the bedroom. I got everything you need." He ruffled his son's hair. "After dinner I'm going to have to teach you how to walk with those crutches. You are getting to big for me to carry around now."

"I'm a big boy now!" Parker announced happily as he helped Brennan move the plates around.

Booth sighed. He realized how much of his child's life that he had missed with Parker's statement. Brennan saw his sad smile and knew what he was thinking.

"You have him now Booth and he going to depend on you to teach him how to be a good man, just like his father." She told him.

"You think I'm a good man?" He asked her. His past as a sniper haunted his dreams. He didn't think a good man could do the things he had to do.

"Only the best that I know." She answered him honestly. She looked into his eyes. She was vaguely aware of his hand gently brushing her cheek and before she knew it, his lips descending upon hers. To his surprise she accepted the gesture and was kissing him back.

In that instant the past didn't matter any more to them, all that was left for the two of them, no make that three of them, was the future and where it was going to lead for them.

_AN: Okay – well there is the long awaited chapter eighteen. My muse was giving me tons of ideas for my other two projects, but not this one. I hope that this chapter was okay. Let me know if you think it should be the end of this story or if it should expand._

_Thank you all for the reviews and alerts. I have the best readers. Please let me know what you think, give ideas, share thoughts . . . it may be a little bit before this one is updated again. I am leaving town for a while to escape the monotony I call my life. But reviews rock my socks, and I hope to have another chapter out before I leave on Thursday._


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